POINTED BARK CANOES. 529 



above Colville and on the lower part of the Kootenai. They arc in 

 daily use there, but are not known to have existed in any other part 

 of America. 



Mr. A. J. Kent, of Idaho, writes that the Kutenai have no other kind 

 of canoe except the one made of spruce, white pine, or cedar-T)ai-k, 

 pointed at both ends beneath. These are about 1,5 feet long and weigh, 

 say, 50 pounds. The bark is very tough and pliable when it is taken 

 off in the spring. The squaws build the canoes when the sap starts, 

 sewing them Avith rawhide or anything else strong enough, closing the 

 cracks with pitch from the yellow pine. It takes two squaws four or 

 five days to make a canoe, the chief difficulty being to get the bark off' 

 whole and to turn it wrong side out successfully. 



Mr. John Sizelove, postmaster at Kalispel, says that the pointed 

 canoes are made of spruce-bark peeled off in a single piece. The 

 frame is made of split cedar. The Indians at Kalispel will use no 

 other kind of boat, as these are very light and can be taken out of the 

 water and kept away from snow and ice in winter. This writer states 

 that the points curve upward and do not sink below the water. It is 



Fig. 1. 



OUTLINE OF KALISPEL POINTED CANOE, SHOWING CURVED BOTTOM. 



a little difficult to decide at present whether this is a local peculiarity 

 or due to the sinking of the middle when loaded. Mr. Sizelove sends 

 a drawing to confirm his statement (fig. 1). 



The Kutenai bark canoes, ac-so-molth, are thus described by Mr. D. 

 M. McLaughlin: The pine-bark is cut from the tree in the length 

 required. The gunwales are prepared by splitting three pieces of 

 cedar wood from a stem 3 to 4 inches in diameter, one of them a half 

 C3^1inder wide, the other two in quarters, placing them about and above 

 the margin of the bark, and lashing all fast with a band of the bark of 

 the vine maple {Acer circhiatum). After this is finished the ribs, 

 made of the same vine-maple wood split into the required lengths, are 

 forced in between the gunwales. Thin cedar boards are then pushed 

 between these ribs and the bark of the canoe. The ends of the thwarts 

 are forced in between the three pieces of cedar wood, forming the 

 gunwales, closing or opening the canoe as required. These thwarts 

 are then securely bound with the vine-maple so as to keep all stiff and 

 solid, especially the middle one, since it has to bear the greatest strain. 

 Mr. McLaughlin says that the canoes, in spite of their frailty, can 

 stand an extraordinary amount of storm and wave when well managed. 



